S.Amdt. 4494

SA 4494. Mr. RISCH submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 3867 submitted by Mr. Reed and intended to be proposed to
the bill H.R. 4350, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022
for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle E of title XII of division A, add
the following:

SEC. 1253. INCREASING DEPARTMENT OF STATE PERSONNEL AND
RESOURCES DEVOTED TO THE INDO-PACIFIC REGION.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) In fiscal year 2020, the Department of State allocated
$1,500,000,000 to the Indo-Pacific region in bilateral and
regional foreign

[[Page S7990]]

assistance resources, including as authorized by section
201(b) of the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 (Public
Law 115-409; 132 Stat. 5391), and $798,000,000 in the
diplomatic engagement budget. These amounts represent only 5
percent of the diplomatic engagement budget and only 4
percent of the combined Department of State and United States
Agency for International Development budget.
(2) Between fiscal years 2017 through 2021, the diplomatic
engagement budget and personnel levels in the Indo-Pacific
region averaged only 5 percent of the total Department of
States budget, while foreign assistance resources averaged
only 4 percent of the total resources committed worldwide.
(3) In 2020, the Department of State began a process to
realign certain positions at posts to ensure that its
personnel footprint matches the demands of great-power
competition, including in the Indo-Pacific region.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the size of the United States diplomatic corps must be
sufficient to meet the current and emerging challenges of the
21st century, including those posed by the People's Republic
of China in the Indo-Pacific region and elsewhere;
(2) increases in the diplomatic corps must be designed to
meet the objectives of an Indo-Pacific strategy focused on
strengthening the good governance and sovereignty of states
that adhere to and uphold the rules-based international
order; and
(3) increase in the diplomatic corps must be implemented
with a focus on increased numbers of economic, political, and
public diplomacy officers, representing a cumulative increase
of at least 200 foreign service officer generalists--
(A) to advance free, fair, and reciprocal trade and open
investment environments for United States companies, and
engaged in increased commercial diplomacy in key markets;
(B) to better articulate and explain United States
policies;
(C) to strengthen civil society and democratic principles;
(D) to enhance reporting on the People's Republic of
China's global activities;
(E) to promote people-to-people exchanges;
(F) to advance United States' influence in the Indo-Pacific
region; and
(G) to increase capacity at small- and medium-sized
embassies and consulates in the Indo-Pacific region and in
other regions around the world, as necessary.
(c) Statement of Policy.--It shall be the policy of the
United States--
(1) to ensure that Department of State funding levels and
its personnel footprint in the Indo-Pacific region reflect
the region's high degree of importance and its significance
to United States political, economic, and security interests;
(2) to increase diplomatic engagement and foreign
assistance funding and the quantity of personnel dedicated to
the Indo-Pacific region respective to the Department of
State's total budget; and
(3) to increase the number of resident Defense attaches in
the Indo-Pacific region, particularly in locations where the
People's Republic of China has a resident military attache
and the United States does not have a resident military
attache, to ensure coverage at all appropriate posts.
(d) Action Plan.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall
submit an action plan to the appropriate committees of
Congress that--
(1) identifies requirements to advance United States
strategic objectives in the Indo-Pacific region and the
personnel and budgetary resources needed to meet such
objectives, assuming an unconstrained resource environment;
(2) includes a plan for increasing the portion of the
Department of State's budget that is dedicated to the Indo-
Pacific region in terms of diplomatic engagement and foreign
assistance focused on development, economic, and security
assistance;
(3) includes a plan for increasing the number of positions
at posts in the Indo-Pacific region and bureaus with
responsibility for the Indo-Pacific region, including--
(A) a description of increases at each post or bureau;
(B) a breakdown of increases by cone; and
(C) a description of how such increases in personnel will
advance United States strategic objectives in the Indo-
Pacific region;
(4) defines concrete and annual benchmarks that the
Department of State will meet in implementing the action
plan; and
(5) describes any barriers to implementing the action plan.
(e) Updates to Report and Briefing.--Not later than 90 days
after the submission of the action plan required under
subsection (d), and quarterly thereafter until September 30,
2030, the Secretary of State shall submit an updated action
plan and brief the appropriate committees of Congress on the
implementation of such action plan, with supporting data,
including a detailed assessment of benchmarks that have been
reached.
(f) Secretary of State Certification.--Not later than 2
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of State shall submit a certification to the
appropriate committees of Congress that indicates whether or
not the benchmarks described in the action plan required
under subsection (d) have been met. This certification
requirement may not be delegated to another Department of
State official.
(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated,
for fiscal year 2022--
(A) $2,000,000,000 for bilateral and regional foreign
assistance resources to carry out the purposes of part 1 and
chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
(22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq. and 2346 et seq.) in the Indo-Pacific
region; and
(B) $1,250,000,000 for diplomatic engagement resources to
the Indo-Pacific region.
(2) Inclusion of amounts appropriated pursuant to asia
reassurance initiative act of 2018.--Amounts authorized to be
appropriated under paragraph (1) include the amounts that
were authorized to be appropriated under section 201(b) of
the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-
409) for fiscal year 2022.
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